Weather Journal: Another Swell Spring Day

The storm front that moved through Greater New York (in apocalyptic fashion) last Thursday left in its wake an amazing spring weekend. That same great weather is set to continue on Monday, with perhaps a few more clouds acting to bring the temperatures down a degree or two. Expect highs in the 60s with a nice southerly breeze.

Weather Journal commenter ‘rmpbklyn’ posted some similarly gnarly photos from Coney Island taken at roughly the same time as our lead photo from last Thursday. We adore reader contributions like this, so if you find yourself in a similar position (e.g. thinking the world might end … or if you’re just having a great day at the park), just grab your camera and send the shots our way — we’d love to hear from you.

Rain chances return on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a few rumbles of thunder possible on Wednesday evening, should the system linger. The showers are being delivered by a weak cold front that will stall out in our region, and it’s still a bit too soon to tell how quickly it will pull out of the area.

A fifth tornado has been confirmed for upstate New York during the April 27-28 mega outbreak, part of the larger system that has devastated parts of the Deep South. No one was injured in the New York tornadoes — but some of the tornado tracks in Alabama were so wide they could be seen from space. The Red Cross Chapter of Greater New York has sent volunteers to help.

As we move into May — what is typically the most active month for tornadoes — 2011 has already broken all records for April tornado activity and put us on pace for a record year. Even if tornado season stopped right here and now, we’d already have enough tornadoes for an entire year, and the most fatalities since 1953 — dating back to the birth of modern weather radar.

Tornado occurrences in New York don’t usually peak until the summer months of June, July, and August (although they can surely happen at any time). Weather Journal will stay with this story throughout the week.

New York City-based meteorologist Eric Holthaus contributes daily weather reports and analysis on Metropolis. For the latest on conditions in New York and elsewhere, follow his updates (@wxrisk) on Twitter.